532 LETTER FROM DR. J. E. GRAY. [NoV. 12, 



furcata and Gallinula galeata, Sarcidiornis regia, &c. ; while others 

 were thought by himself and Mr. Landbeck to be mere varieties, 

 such as Rhynchotus j)unctulatus, Thinocorus ingce. Bubo crassiros- 

 tris. Dr. Philippi likewise stated that he was engaged in preparing 

 a Catalogue of the Birds of Chili, copies of which, when complete, 

 would be forwarded. 



The following letter, addressed to the Secretary by Dr. J. E. 

 Gray, F.R.S., was read :— ., g^j^j^j^ Museum, 



October 26, 1868. 



" My Dear Sir, — In Dr. Bowerbank's Notes on my paper on 

 Sponges in the 'Proceedings of the Zoological Society' for 1868, 

 p. 133, I find, among other observations of a like kind, the following 

 passage, which may fairly be cited as a sample of the value of the 

 remainder : — 



" ' If it is to be tolerated that any naturalist shall get sight sur- 

 reptitiously of the specimens belonging to another, and then de- 

 scribe, name, and publish them, as in the case of the genus Astro- 

 stoma, page 514, unknown to the owner, and without permission so 

 to use them,' &c. 



" It is only necessary to state very simply the facts of the case to 

 show how utterly baseless is this attack on my honour and honesty. 



"In the 'Philosophical Transactions' for 1862 Dr. Bowerbank 

 described 'a specimen of a branched* sponge from the East Indies, 

 presented to me by my friend Mr. S. P. Pratt,' and on plate 55, 

 figs. 3, 4, 5, 6, he figures the sponge and its oscula. The peculiari- 

 ties of this sponge and of its oscula having been referred to in the 

 discussion on the structure of Hyalonema, I happened one day to be 

 showing the figure to Mr. Tyler at the British Museum, when he 

 informed me that he had part of the original specimen of it. Dr. 

 Bowerbank (as he often did) having given it to him to mount por- 

 tions of it. Some time afterwards he brought me specimens for 

 examination ; and as I found the oscula to be unlike those of any 

 other sponge, I described it as a new genus, under the name of 

 Astrostoma, in the 'Proceedings of the Zoological Society' for 

 1867, p. 514, referring to Dr. Bowerbank's paper and figures in the 

 ' Philosophical Transactions.' 



" Dr. Bowerbank, with singular inconsistency, denies that I had 

 seen the original specimen, ' as that had never passed out of his 

 hands.' On which statement Mr. Tyler observed to me, when we 

 met, in nearly the same terms as before, ' that the sponge was 

 given to him to mount, that he made from it several preparations, 

 both in balsam and dry, and that with Dr. Bowerbank's full know- 

 ledge and permission he had, as was his usual custom, kept those 

 which he had shown to me.' 



* " In a former page of this communication to the Zoological Society, Dr. 

 Bowerbank attacks me in his usual vehement manner for describing this sponge 

 as ' branched,' and says that 'it is a simple unbranched cyhnder.' So loose, in- 

 accurate, and contradictory are his statements in regard to the simplest matter 

 of fact." 



